De-mystifying Chiropractic T
by Dr. Amy »Amata« Jackson, DC
he body has an innate ability to heal itself when the nerve impulses flow freely from the brain down the spinal cord then to the muscles, organs, bones and connective tissue and back again. This is the master system of the body. The nervous system animates your body, mind and emotions. It tells your muscles to contract, your heart to pump and your eyes to release tears when you are sad. A good analogy is a computer. The brain and spinal cord make up the central nervous system, which sends information to your peripheral nervous system to animate your body. This central nervous system is the software, while the bony skull, spinal column made up of 24 movable vertebrae, and the sacrum are the hardware. Everything you think, say, do or feel is operated through the central nervous system. If the nervous system is not working properly then you begin to have pain, a decreased immune system, more illness,
and ultimately disease. Like a bug in your computer software, it begins to shut down your physiological and psychological systems. These “bugs” can come as a physical trauma, a biochemical assault such as the foods you eat, the pesticides or chemicals you breathe. Even the thoughts you think, the stress you are under, and emotions you feel can alter the nerve impulses coursing through your body. All of these create a neural cascade through your body which brings it into a greater state of distress. As Hippocrates said, “Look well to the spine as the cause of disease.” As long as the nervous system is sending impulses to all of the parts of the body at optimal levels, the body can maintain health. However, life happens, and we can find ourselves in a variety of situations such as ski falls, emotional family issues, car accidents, root canals, influenza or chemical exposure. All of these create a decrease or increase in the nerve flow through your body. It is a chiro-
practor’s job to understand how and where this is occurring in the spine and restore nerve flow to its optimal level, so the body can heal itself. When these stressors come into your life, oftentimes you just keep going. You may think you’re fine because the trauma is behind you. But what you may not realize is that the stressor compromised the nerve flow in the central nervous system creating a negative feedback loop which alters nerve flow to the digestive tract and brain. Nothing happens for a while, then you start having digestive issues, constipation, bloating or acid reflux. Or, two months later you begin having headaches. These symptoms occur from an alteration of nerve flow through your nervous system. Amazingly, nerve fibers are so sensitive that the weight of a dime on a nerve reduces the impulse by 50 percent. This can become a silent killer as a feedback loop is set up in your nervous system to continually give less neural input from your brain to your vital organs. The disturbance may not even be a physical event. Research now shows that emotional trauma such as divorce, loss of a job, or a major transition in life can alter the flow of neural impulses through the brain and spinal cord. We need increased neuro-plasticity to deal with the stressors of life. Everybody has something that may alter the neural impulses through the brain and spinal cord. This is why chiropractic can sometimes seem like a miracle. When the flow to the brain and spinal cord are re-instated, symptoms disappear. “Since I’ve been in chiropractic, I’ve improved by leaps and bounds both mentally and physically,” stated Michael Jordan when he was at the top of his game. By regulating the flow of neural impulses through the nervous system and breaking negative feedback loops that may have occurred from physical, mental, emotional or biochemical trauma, everyone can improve in their life by leaps and bounds with chiropractic. Dr. Amy “Amata” Jackson, DC, is the founder of Amata Chiropractic in Santa Fe. Visit AmataChiropractic.com. See ad, page 16. October 2018
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